A Man With Many Faces
by Coraircate
Summary: The Doctor answers a distress call from a crashing ship, in more lives than he intends.
1. The South Sector

A MAN WITH MANY FACES

"It's happening again, Naomi."

"Do we seriously not know what's causing it?" asked the blonde girl in futuristic scaly black armor. She was no more than twenty-two.

"Not a clue," answered the man with her, a black haired Asian man with similar armor and exhausted eyes. He looked to be about her age, maybe younger.

"Where's it hitting this time?" Naomi questioned.

"South Sector," he said, pointing to a deep blue monitor covered in a grid and a map that was shaped roughly rectangular, with a few accents to shape it. There were obvious wings protruding from the side. It was obviously some sort of aircraft, very much like a spaceship only with a preferred altitude much closer to the surface of the earth below.

"The iron this time," she noted. "Shall we try to stop it?"

"Might as well," he answered. "Won't do much good anyway." He stood from his solid black mesh rotating chair and grabbed a large rifle propped up against the right side of the console he previously sat in front of, before handing it to Naomi. She was a much better shooter than he was. They proceeded through an automatic sliding metal door and along a long empty hallway. There they could hear the sound of something that could be described as an army of flies drowning out the deafening sounds of a simple lawn mower. Proceeding into a doorway at the other end, they saw a familiar sight.

There were several crates sitting on the floor, and the lids had all been cast aside. Being sucked from the crates was a cargo of small iron spheres, traveling up in waves through a portal on the ceiling. It was painfully loud up close, and the balls of iron would clink together to add to the noise.

"Adam, your armor," commented Naomi. A small iron shoulder plate had been sucked off of her friend's armor. He reached forward and grabbed it, pulling it back and fastening it back in place. It was once again torn from him, more ferociously. Along with it, other iron padding on their armor suits. They traveled too fast to catch at that point, as the portal began to gain power. The two had seen it before. Whenever it soaked up what it needed, it would begin to work faster, and faster, and faster. It was a self-fueling, mostly non-sentient robber that knew what it wanted and where to get it.

Naomi lifted her rifle and fired a single bullet into the portal. The bullet was quickly launched back out of the portal, much faster than before. It even put a small hole in the floor of the ship. Air began to be pulled into the ship.

"Damn," she hissed. "Can we patch it up?" One of the iron spheres was then launched out in much the same way, putting a slightly larger hole in the ship close to the other.

"I'm guessing it's about to be a lost cause," noted Adam. Another sphere rocketed from the portal and tore a hole in the wall, and then another in the opposite wall. Soon, spheres were flying all over, eating away at the hull of the spacecraft. The ship was slowly dipping lower and lower, as it was becoming unable to stay in the air. Adam and Naomi began to lose their balance, as they found the floor tilted beneath them.

"We've got to evacuate!" Naomi said, turning towards the hallway and making a run for it. Adam followed closely behind. There in the middle of the hallway was a large door to the outside. Naomi pressed a green button next to it, while Adam opened a nearby closet and grabbed two bags: parachutes. He threw one over his shoulder as the ship suddenly shook. The two fell to the floor, and the door opened. They were slowly sliding across the floor, and then there was a loud siren. It was the automatic distress signal that sounded whenever ships like this one were in dire situations. Falling from the sky tended to register as a dire situation in the system's programming. Naomi grabbed the edge of the door and began to pull herself up as the ship was nearly vertical. Adam continued to slide, but quickly slung the sleeve of the other parachute over Naomi's foot. She quickly reached down and grabbed it with her free hand. The iron spheres were making their way into the hallway now, piercing through the shell of the ship, edging closer and closer.

"What's that noise?" asked Adam. Naomi hadn't noticed. There was a sound like churning, and grinding, and wheezing, as if a mechanical elephant was suffering. It was almost calming. Naomi screamed as she felt a sharp pain in her hand, forcing her to release the door. One of the spheres had gone right through her hand and made a hole she could barely see through. The two slid downwards, towards the console room. The door opened automatically as they neared, and on the other side was a large blue police box. Suddenly, the doors came open, and the two fell inside and stopped on a beautiful gothic-esque floor. The doors closed behind them.

"This is impossible," noted Adam, looking around.

#1: THE SOUTH SECTOR

The room was much bigger than the police box they fell into. There were several rounded tiles in the walls, and columns and some steps leading up to a beautiful looking console. Granted, everything was shaking on account of the fact that it was sitting atop a crashing ship. Naomi was too absorbed with gripping the hole in her hand to care much about the room and its size.

But the most spectacular thing about the room was the man standing at the console in the middle of the room, running around in circles and hitting a ridiculous amount of buttons and switches.

"Hello there, welcome to the TARDIS," he said hastily, as if he was in a hurry. He was, obviously, in said hurry. "Yes it's bigger on the inside, but forget about that now." He reached over and turned a knob. "I heard the distress signal, thought I'd pop in. What are your names?"

"Adam, and this is Naomi," was the answer. He felt it wasn't the best time for small talk. "She's hurt."

"I'll take care of that once we're out of this mess," said the man. "It turns out it's very hard to land this thing on a crashing ship. Or anywhere really."

"Can you put us on the ground?" asked Adam.

"If I'm lucky," answered the man. He flipped a lever. The shaking stopped, and Adam's eyes began to adjust to the sudden stillness.

"Right," the man said, stepping down and over towards Naomi. "I'm The Doctor, by the way." His hair was short and dark, slightly curly, and phenomenally messy. He appeared to be in his thirties or forties, but he was still handsome, especially for his age. His outfit seemed quite dated, consisting of a long green velvet trench coat with caramel brown army boots. The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a yo-yo.

"That's no good," he said, tossing it. He continued to go into his pocket and search for something. Aside he tossed a deck of cards, some jelly babies, chewing gum (but not before offering Adam a piece), and a jar full of buttons. Finally, he pulled out some gauze and began to wrap it around Naomi's hand. She had gone very quiet, and had little more than watery eyes.

"H.. how'd you fit all that in your pocket?" she asked.

"Look around you," The Doctor answered. "Bigger on the inside, just like my pockets. I probably should clean them out every now and then." He removed a sock puppet from the pocket and threw it on the ground next to the cards. It was then he noticed the jelly babies and picked them up.

"Want one?" he asked. She shook her head. The Doctor ate one and then stuffed it back into the pocket.

"Hopefully we landed in the right spot," said The Doctor.

"You mean you don't know where we landed?" asked Adam.

"I can't exactly see out the windows," noted The Doctor. "Not as tall as I used to be." He walked over to the doors and pulled them open as Adam helped Naomi up.

"Ah, there's your ship," The Doctor said. "Did someone get a bit peckish?" The ship was covered in small red holes, so numerous there were plenty of spots where they could see through to the other side.

"There was a portal inside the ship," said Adam. "I don't really know how to describe it, but it began to take all of our iron out of the crates."

"And then launch them out like bullets?"

"Not at first," Adam noted. "Naomi shot into the portal with her gun and then they just started doing that."

"Hmm," The Doctor hummed. "I see, after a bullet went into it, they all began to act like bullets. Almost like it adopted the properties of the bullet and then acted as a handgun. Fascinating." Just then, the churning sound of the TARDIS like before. The Doctor turned around to look back at his TARDIS.

"Odd, she normally only makes that noise when she dematerializes," said The Doctor. It sat there as if nothing had happened.

"Um, Doctor?" said Naomi.

"Yes Naomi?" He turned to her.

"There's another one," she said, pointing with her good hand. Following her eyes, The Doctor saw another TARDIS like his own. It was a blue 1963 police box, and it was his.

"This breaks quite a few rules," he said, almost worried. The doors of the TARDIS opened, and a blond curly-haired man in a blue coat poked his head out of the doors and met eyes with the Doctor.

The curly-haired man then said, "Well, this certainly breaks some rules, doesn't it?"

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. A Look Ahead

A MAN WITH MANY FACES

"The Doctor, I presume," said the curly haired man in blue, stepping from the TARDIS.

"Why are you here?" asked The Doctor.

"I'm merely answering a distress signal," the man in blue says.

"Who is this?" asked Adam to The Doctor.

"He's The Doctor," responded The Doctor.

"Is there a cult of Doctors?"

"Not quite," The Doctor said. "I tend to change my face sometimes. Every now and then I get a good one, sometimes not so much."

"Oh, and the personality's all different, too," said the other Doctor. "I've been a dandy, a clown, and the world's touchiest child."

"And an occasional table in a technicolor coat," said the original Doctor. The man in blue shriveled his nose at the table comment. "All jokes aside, it might be best for you to leave before the Time Lords anger."

"I didn't have much of a choice," said the other Doctor. "The TARDIS locked on and came right along."

"Interesting," said The Doctor with the velvet trenchcoat. "What are you up to, old girl?" As if answering the question, the churning sounds began to sound, much like before.

#2: A LOOK AHEAD

"Another one?" asked The Doctor in blue. Right next to his TARDIS appeared another, one that looked slightly different.

"She's gotten a paint job," said The Doctor in green. "I quite like it. I may have to be the one responsible."

"A future face, I presume," said The Doctor in blue. "Which were you?"

"The Eighth," answered The Doctor. "Sorry if this is all a bit confusing to you," he said to Adam and Naomi. The third TARDIS doors came open, and after a few seconds, a man stepped out from within.

"Ah, hello," he said, grinning at the other Doctors. "I heard you needed some help?" He had close cut hair and massive ears, and he wore a black leather jumper over a simple purple tee, with dark pants and dark shoes. "By the way, do you like the new outfit? Just picked it out."

"We've got it under control, I believe," said the Eighth Doctor.

"And the outfit?" he rephrased.

"A bit dark, but I think you make it work," said the Eighth Doctor.

"Fantastic," answered the new Doctor.

"Too dull," answered the other Doctor.

"Well I suppose it's a complement coming from you," said the newcomer. "At least you're wearing the blue one rather than that other one. I don't know how it didn't make me go blind. Perhaps it did. That'd explain why I wore it." The Doctor in blue crumpled his face up in insult, but it didn't seem to affect him too deeply.

"So which Doctor are you?" asked the Eighth Doctor.

"I'm still deciding," he answered. "Hmmm, the ninth seems like a good number. I'll be the ninth, yeah."

"So I'll be seeing you soon then," answered the Eighth Doctor.

"Well... it's complicated," said the Ninth Doctor. "You'll understand when you're older."

"It was nice seeing you, I suppose," said The Doctor in blue. "But as you can see, we're on the case."

"All fine and good, but I'm not here to solve the problem with this ship," said the Ninth Doctor. "I was getting a distress signal from a TARDIS. My TARDIS, it seems."

"Perhaps she's crying out for her Chameleon Circuit to be fixed," said The Doctor in blue.

"I almost fixed it once," noted the Ninth Doctor. "When was that? Oh yeah, sixth life. I was you! Didn't work out, did it?"

"What's that, I can't hear you, sorry," said the Sixth Doctor. "Maybe if I had some bigger ears I could hear you better. Perhaps I'll get on that a few regenerations down the line." Naomi and Adam were beginning to suspect the two were secretly enjoying poking fun at each other.

"What's he talking about?" asked the Ninth Doctor to the Eighth Doctor.

"How long have you had that face?" asked the Eighth Doctor.

"A couple of days," the Ninth Doctor said.

"You'll know when you see a mirror, perhaps," the Eighth Doctor said.

"Damn," hissed the Ninth Doctor. He was hoping the ears would be smaller in this life.

"There aren't anymore TARDISes appearing, so I presume the gathering is done," said the Sixth Doctor. "Where shall we start?"

"I should probably start by filling you in," said the Eighth Doctor.

"Right then," answered the Ninth Doctor. The three all knew to put their hands to their temples.

"Contact."

"Contact."

"Contact." Adam and Naomi watched as the three incarnations stood there for several seconds.

"Ah, so you've got a portal that sucks things in, including the properties of whatever it absorbs," said the Sixth Doctor as he opened his eyes.

"Perhaps the iron could have given some of its properties to the portal," the Ninth chimed in.

"Though I don't suppose making the portal rust in the rain is one of them," the Sixth joked.

"Iron is magnetic, is it not?" asked the Ninth Doctor. "Perhaps the portal wasn't much of a vacuum without the iron. Though I suppose the portal would have to be a vacuum of some sort, at least at first. How else could it get the iron?"

"Maybe its effects are only temporary," the Eighth Doctor suggested. "We don't know where the portal led, but I suspect it could go both ways. After all, the iron was coming back _out _of the portal. That means that someone could drop a single piece of iron into the portal and it would begin to soak up all the rest."

"Fantastic," said the Ninth Doctor. "Infinite potential for expanding an iron empire with only a single piece of iron. It's brilliant!"

"Is this the first time this sort of thing has happened?" asked the Sixth Doctor to Adam and Naomi.

"Er, it's happened to us once before," said Naomi. "But it wasn't iron last time."

"Well, what was it?" the Sixth Doctor asked.

"Liquid nitrogen," Adam said.

"Hmm, I suppose liquid nitrogen has properties that could be useful," said the Sixth Doctor.

"It's unreactive," the Ninth Doctor said. "So it wouldn't really do much."

"But it's also colorless, making it impossible for humans to see in gaseous form," said the Eighth Doctor. "Therefore, an invisible portal, like a magnet picking up whatever it can, and taking it to nowhere in particular."

"It goes to reason that an invisible portal would catch someone by surprise, though there are other senses to alert someone," the Sixth Doctor said.

"Did your portal smell funny, taste off?" the Ninth Doctor asked.

"It was noisy," Naomi said. "Like... a huge swarm of bees."

"That seems like a careless giveaway," said the Eighth Doctor, putting his hand to his chin and looking over at the ship. "A portal that takes the properties of whatever goes into it and reuses them... It is invisible, it is magnetic, but it is also noisy. Useful within a soundproof room, yes, but what practical purpose could that serve?"

"Perhaps whoever it is doing this plans to release a bunch of bees to drown out the portal?" asked Adam. The Sixth Doctor stared at him.

"Doubtful," he said, almost poisonously.

"You said you came here answering a distress call from a TARDIS, yes?" asked the Eighth Doctor to the Ninth.

"Yes."

"But there was no distress signal at this point in time, at least, not from my TARDIS," said the Eighth Doctor. "What about you?"

"No distress signal from my TARDIS," replied the Sixth.

"Yes, she's being unusually calm about this whole situation," said the Eighth Doctor, turning and walking up to the doors of his TARDIS. "What are you up to, old girl?"

"The distress signal hasn't happened yet," said the Ninth Doctor. "I think the TARDIS came back in time before the distress signal, as if to give me time to answer it."

"A TARDIS distress signal," said the Sixth Doctor. "Then this is much more than some common crook using portals to steal iron and nitrogen for profit. This is about us, or rather, the TARDIS."

"Yes, we were all gathered here where something would happen to the TARDIS," the Eighth Doctor said. "Now, this is much more than something trying to destroy the TARDIS, clearly. Otherwise we would not all be here. Someone must be attempting to eradicate the TARDIS as a whole, and destroy our timeline completely. Yours..." He points at the Sixth Doctor. "Is vulnerable, especially. By destroying your TARDIS, our TARDISes vanish. I suppose we need to keep a close eye on your TARDIS."

And then, bees. The sound of thousands of swarming bees.

"It's the portal," said Adam. The Doctors turned and began to look around, though they saw nothing at all, as expected. The Eighth Doctor removed his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket and began to examine the air with it.

"I'm picking up traces of iron," he shouted over the portal's noise.

"Where?" asked the Sixth Doctor.

"Everywhere!" responded the Eighth Doctor. Just then, he was hit in the face by an unseeable, fast-moving object, and he blacked out.

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. The TARDIS Weeps

A MAN WITH MANY FACES

The Eighth Doctor awoke, and stared up at the ceiling of what appeared to be a TARDIS. Quickly sitting up, he looked around and saw Adam and Naomi grasping the railing near the console, as the Ninth Doctor hopped around it flipping switches and mashing buttons. It was impossible for the Eighth Doctor to tell what all the buttons did, because he tended to forget the controls of the ship, like he did most things.

The room was spinning, and it wasn't just his perception- the TARDIS was traveling.

"What's happened, why am I here?" asked the Eighth Doctor, almost drunkenly. His head was throbbing and he didn't remember much.

"Someone's taking the other Doctor's TARDIS," said the Ninth Doctor. "He managed to jump up and pull himself inside as it left, and I'm following him right now." The Eighth Doctor finally got to his feet, and made his way up to the console. Though he was stumbling and off-balance, he managed to pull himself together and assist his future self in piloting the ship. On the scanner, he could see the other TARDIS falling through space.

"Can you hear me, Doctor?" came the voice of the Doctor's past.

"Yes, I can hear you," answered the Ninth Doctor into a microphone.

"You've probably noticed I have no control of the TARDIS," said the Sixth Doctor.

"It did occur to me," said the Ninth Doctor.

"Something is interfering with the dematerialization circuit," said the Sixth Doctor. "It all seems a bit Time Lord. I've also noticed that I cannot push the doors open, only pull. There seems to be something invisible that has wrapped around the doors of the TARDIS."

"Perhaps... made of iron?" asked the Ninth Doctor.

"Yes, I believe so," answered the Sixth Doctor. "Chains I suppose." The Eighth Doctor, looking at the scanner, noticed something coming into view.

"A meteor?" he asked. "That's not right; there shouldn't be meteors for light-years in this part of the universe."

"I'm picking up three TARDISes," said the Sixth Doctor.

"Perhaps my TARDIS is following us," suggested the Eighth Doctor. "She does have a tendency to do that sort of thing."

"The third TARDIS is perfectly still," said the Sixth Doctor. "I believe, below us... Say, is that a meteor?"

"I thought not," noted the Eighth Doctor. The other TARDIS was being pulled right into a completely different TARDIS.

#3: THE TARDIS WEEPS

The Sixth Doctor stumbled as the TARDIS landed abruptly inside an opening on top of the meteor, now known to be a TARDIS. The opening closed, and the Sixth Doctor's TARDIS was sealed inside. He got to his feet and gripped the microphone before asking, "Can you hear me, Doctors?"

There was no answer, and he was alone.

"Right, let's get down to the bottom of this," he said to himself. He stepped over to and pulled open the doors, and stepped forward, smacking his face on whatever invisible binding had encased the TARDIS.

"Of course..." he mumbled, getting down to the ground and crawling out. He struggled to pull the doors closed behind him and looked around. It was then he noticed a strange sound coming from his TARDIS. It was almost breathing, creaking, weeping even.

"Seems a bit dull in here," he said aloud. "Whoever runs the place needs to borrow my feng shui books... and perhaps my insurance." There were steel seats screwed into the floor, and the central console was a violent red. The ceiling almost seemed to stretch for miles, and there was an uncomfortable supply of bloody tissues decorating the floor.

"Is anyone in here?" he asked. "I must say it was rather unkind of you to bring me here in such a way. Also, do you need medical assistance? It's a bit red in here." He then heard a loud and painful cough from the darkness.

"Who's there?" the Doctor asked. There was a clicking sound, and the lights flickered on. A man across the room appeared, hunched over in his chair. He had a face the Doctor recognized.

"Ah, Scrapyard!" the Doctor joked. He had encountered the Valeyard before. "I thought I had killed you. It seems something else will, rather."

"It will kill you, too, Doctor," said the Valeyard with a cough.

"What will kill me?"

"Can't you tell?" the Valeyard asked, coughing again. "Time poisoning."

"Time poisoning? Me?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes," the Valeyard said. "Something has gone wrong in your timeline. It is moving backwards, slowly eating away at you throughout your entire life."

"And why are you telling me?" asked the Doctor.

"I've become too weak to stop it," said the Valeyard. He coughed heavily, for several seconds, into a reddening tissue. "You still have time."

"You felt the need to crash a ship, take my TARDIS, and bring me halfway across the universe to tell me I'm dying? Do you realize that you've wasted precious seconds that could be spent solving the problem?"

"You needed to see for yourself," the Valeyard said. "I knew you would not otherwise believe me. I'm too weak to pilot the TARDIS. I can't go anywhere." He coughed once again, this time falling from his chair. The Doctor did not move to help him.

"Where did the timeline go wrong, Valeyard?" asked the Doctor.

"The... end," said the Valeyard.

"What do you mean?"

"Your g-grave..."

"Where is my grave, then?"

"T-tren..." He coughed again, several times, before collapsing.

"WHERE?!" the Doctor shouted at him. The Valeyard did not move. The Doctor hung his head and tucked his hands behind his back.

"How will I ever find it?" he asked himself.

"Evening, Doctor!" came a cheerful voice from the TARDIS console.

"Hello? Who's that?"

"I'm you!" answered the voice. "Well, not really. Well, yeah really. It's all a bit complicated. Not that complicated. You a few regenerations down the line. It's all a bit timey-wimey."

"Timey-wimey?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that. Anyway! Do you see a monitor?" The Doctor moved closer to the console and began looking around.

"Yes, yes, I see a monitor," answered the Doctor.

"Well, if I'm doing this right, and I _am _doing this right, you should see some numbers... right now!" As the future Doctor said, several numbers appeared on the screen.

"What are these coordinates to?" asked the Sixth Doctor.

"Our grave," replied the future Doctor. "Trenzalore. Saw myself, from the future, came to warn me that we need to head there and that you would be a good man to call."

"The Valeyard? He said he couldn't fly the TARDIS," the Sixth Doctor revealed.

"Not the Valeyard," the Doctor said. "Still Doctor. Strange one. Wore a bowtie. Very expressive. Lots of hand motions. Very short trousers. Which reminds me... are you wearing the blue coat?"

"Yes...?"

"Good! See you at Trenzalore! Allons-y!" The Doctor on the other line disconnected. The Sixth Doctor made his way back into his TARDIS, walking into the chains on the way, before standing next to the console and speaking into the microphone.

"Can you hear me now, Doctors?" asked the Sixth Doctor.

"What the hell just happened?" asked the Ninth Doctor.

"I was warned by a future Doctor about a problem," the Sixth Doctor said. "Our timeline is collapsing and we need to find out why. Oh, and our future selves will be there, so prepare for that however you'd like. I recommend controlled breathing."

"How many of us will be there?" asked the Eighth Doctor.

"Five, I believe," the Sixth Doctor said. "Probably more, based on how this day is going." He punched in the coordinates, and the TARDIS wept.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
